Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Tile and slate roofing in Rancho Santa Margarita
Tile roofs fail from underneath. The tile you are looking at can be in perfect condition over underlayment that gave up a decade ago.
Describe the tile and slate job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Rancho Santa Margarita contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in Rancho Santa Margarita is taking requests through this service yet. We are lining them up, and yours is kept until one can.
- Nobody gets your details yet. Your request stays with us and is not passed to any company.
- One email when someone can help. When a provider covering your area can take it on, we email you once and ask whether you want that company, by name, to contact you.
- Deleted after 90 days. If nobody can take it on, or you do not say yes, your contact details are deleted 90 days after your request.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
Nobody will call you about this request unless you say yes to a company by name.
Before you let anybody on the roof
The things worth pinning down on a tile and slate job. A contractor who has not raised them has not looked properly.
- The condition and age of the underlayment beneath
- Fastener specification, especially near salt air
- What percentage of tile breakage they expect and how it is priced
- Whether battens are being replaced at the same time
- Whether the tile can be salvaged and relaid
Walking a tile roof breaks tile. That is not carelessness, it is physics, and any honest contractor will tell you a small percentage will be lost and replaced.
Slate wants copper or stainless fasteners and a crew who has done it before. Steel nails on a slate roof is a hundred-year covering held down by a thirty-year fixing.
Underlayment life under tile is typically twenty to thirty years. The tile above it is rated for fifty or more. Plan for one relay in the life of the roof.
Locally
The second problem is morning fog that sits on the roof until mid-morning. Damp that arrives every morning and leaves by lunchtime is worse for a roof than rain, because nothing ever fully dries between one and the next.
About tile and slate here
Do you cover the whole Orange County area?
Yes. The contractors we match on cover Rancho Santa Margarita and the surrounding towns, so if you are just outside the city limits it still works.
Can I stay in the house while it is done?
Most people do. Expect noise from early morning, dust in the attic, and a day where the driveway belongs to the crew.
What warranty should I expect?
Two separate things. The manufacturer covers the material for its rated life, but only if it was installed to their specification. The contractor covers workmanship, commonly five to ten years, and only for as long as they are trading.
I rent. Can I use this?
You can submit it, but the owner has to authorise any work, so the useful move is to get the landlord to make the request or to give you permission in writing first. Contractors will not start work for a tenant.
Start with a free estimate
Free, no obligation, and your details go to no company until you say yes.